Venomous Beauty
by Empress Akitla
Summary: Stryker's went off the deep end when he 'invited' this mutant to the team. Team X can see it in her eyes and the way she acts. Something's being hidden, and they'll all soon learn what Stryker has planned for them. AU story.
1. Team X

**Note: This is an idea that has been floating around my head for a while. And if you've been reading my other story "Hunted", this story has absolutely nothing to do with that story**

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It was dark and fairly cold. She was wet with water. No, strike that. She was wet with sweat. At first she thought maybe she was in an underwater cave, like the ones she usually slept in when underwater. But she remembered, it was the dry season and she should be on land, driving cattle.

Decades of experience told her to keep calm. It was obvious she wasn't in the Australian Outback anymore. Wherever she was had people and mutants, though. Her best guess told her she was in a room with the lights turned off. Whatever she was sitting on was also soft, like a couch. After a few seconds of hesitation, she swung her legs over the edge of the couch and stood. Dizziness filled her head briefly but that was soon forgotten. She clanked around in the dark before finding a door. When she twisted the knob, she was surprised to see it was unlocked.

Voices filtered through her ears as she walked away from the room. It looked like she was in a house of some sort. It was big enough to house at least ten people she guessed. The room she was just in was on the second floor. Right now she was standing in an open room that had a window at one end and the stairs at the other end. Through the window she could see water, perfect.

The voices became louder, like two people were arguing. There was a growl, a clank of metal, and the shattering of something glass. The female walked over to the top of the stairs and crouched down; trying to see what was going on. At the bottom of the stairs was a living room that definitely looked lived in and then off to the right was a kitchen. Two guys were duking it out while five other guys were standing well out of their way.

She could smell it, all of them were mutants. Two were feral mutants, like her. The fighting stopped when one of the two brawlers saw her sitting up at the top of the stairs.

"Well, look who's awake finally!" He said rather cheerfully, despite the vicious battle that had just taken place.

The other six looked up at her and she suddenly felt uncomfortable sitting there so she ventured down to their level. Her senses were on high alert and she was ready to bolt out of the front door or a window if necessary.

"So, did you have a nice nap?" the one who'd spoken earlier asked.

She glared at him and then glanced at all the others. She was way outnumbered. Seven normal guys against her would've been no sweat but seven mutants, two being feral, was just suicide. So she'd play it cool.

"If that's what you want to call it, mate," her voice was heavily accented. "Where am I?"

"North America," the one who answered was smaller than the others but had a friendly air to him.

"Ah, crikey," the female slapped a clawed hand over her face. "Why?"

"You know, Stryker will answer that question for you as soon as he gets here." Once again the cheerful man answered. "I didn't catch your name."

"Brandi," she crossed her arms over her chest. "And I'm afraid I didn't catch any of your names, mates."

"Wade," the cheerful man answered.

"Victor," the man who had been brawling with Wade said.

"Chris," the smaller man smiled.

"Zero," the Asian male answered.

"Fred," the big man replied.

"John," the black guy said with a curt nod.

"Logan," the last one, one of the feral mutants, said.

"So when's this Stryker bloke supposed ta be here?" Brandi asked, though not giving away that she was really concerned.

"I have no idea where he was when he called," Wade gave a shrug of his shoulders. "So what can you do? What's your power?"

"I'm not gonna tell you right now," Brandi said sternly and she meant it. Rule number two in her book: never tell them what you can do because it gives away that element of surprise.

"Okay," Wade paused for a moment. "Got any family or friends?"

"You're a nosy goanna aren't ya, mate?" Brandi leaned up against the wall, looking relaxed but she still had her guard up.

"Oh, touchy subject," Wade nodded over his shoulder. "Those two are a little touchy with family too."

"Wade…" Victor growled warningly.

"See what I mean?" Wade walked off to another part of the house behind the stairs.

Brandi looked at Victor then Logan. They were the two feral mutants. They were a little touchy with family, huh?

"You two are brothers," Brandi stated, not asked. They had a familiar scent that she linked to them being brothers.

"Half brothers," Logan corrected.

"Ah," Brandi felt uncomfortable with the silence and looked down. Suddenly the white carpet seemed much more interesting then everything else.

The small group started to disperse into different parts of the house, uncomfortable by the same silence. Brandi slid to the floor and stared at the front door. She wanted to bolt for it even though she could feel Victor and Zero watching her. But another reason held her there. For some weird reason, she felt like it'd be disastrous if she left.

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**Note: Please R&R! :)**


	2. Stryker's Offer

**Note: Yay! Chapter two! Brandi's powers are not yet revealed but they will be hopefully in the next chapter. Please enjoy this for now.**

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To Brandi it seemed like forever but in reality it had taken Stryker only five minutes to arrive. He carried such a powerful air about him considering that all seven of the mutants he was boss of could've killed him easily. It made the Aussie sick.

"Brandi, I'd like to speak to you up in your new room," Stryker ordered and stalked up stairs.

"Whatever, mate," Brandi hissed and followed. Maybe she'd relieve these mutants of doing whatever Stryker ordered them to do. She could do it real easily several different ways.

The light in the room was turned on now and it looked fairly nice. It had a bed, a dresser, a mirror, and a couch. Brandi though it was weird that her 'new bedroom' would have a couch.

"Shut the door," Stryker said and sat on the couch.

Brandi complied and leaned up against the door. Her blue streaked black hair fell in her face as she lowered her head, waiting for Stryker to say or do something.

"Do you know why you're here?" Stryker asked.

"You know, mate, I've been wondering that myself," Brandi lifted her head and stared the gray haired man right in the eye. "I should actually be in the Outback, driving big cheeky bulls to Darwin."

"I've got a better job for you," Stryker smirked and leaned forward.

"Oh, yeah?" Brandi walked towards him, her claws ready to strike. "What if I refuse?"

Downstairs, Logan was sitting on the couch while Wade and Chris went over the last mission they did. It was quiet until there was a violent shouting upstairs. Everyone turned their heads but no one could make out what was being yelled. Logan and Victor heard every word, but they had no idea what language Brandi was speaking. They heard Stryker mumble something to her, then she replied with a few words that would make a sailor blush, and then it was quiet.

"I'll be seeing you all soon," Stryker said as he walked down the stairs and out the door.

Brandi was at the top of the stairs, her fist clenched into balls, blood running down her fingers from her claws digging into her flesh. There was a small tear drop in the corner of each eye and she looked just about ready to murder someone. No one dared to approach her as she stalked back to her room.

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It was around nine later that night when Logan was the bravest and went up to Brandi's room. The light was on but her door was shut. It was quiet, too quiet. At first he wondered if she snuck out the window and disappeared. A quiet shuffling in the room beat down that thought.

"I know you're standing outside my door, mate," Brandi said.

"Can I come in?" Logan asked.

"Yeah," came the quiet reply in the form of a sigh.

Logan twisted the knob and pushed the door open. Brandi was sitting on her bed, a few pictures spread out in front of her. She quickly gathered them up and stuffed them back into her wallet.

"Have a rough meeting with Stryker?" Logan sat down on the edge of the bed.

"You could say that," Brandi sighed and looked out her window at the water glittering in the moonlight.

"So, are you joining our team?" Logan raised an eyebrow.

Brandi nodded and turned her attention back to the feral sitting on her bed.

"You're the only girl on this whole team," Logan smirked. "You're gonna have to watch out. Wade seems to have a way with women."

"If he even tries anything that little blighter will be dead by morning," Brandi said. And she was dead serious.

Logan was silent for a few moments. Maybe Victor wasn't the only one who might kill Wade.

"What kind of feral are you?" Logan asked, changing the subject.

"Not quite sure if I'm a feral or not," Brandi shrugged her shoulders. "I've my father was half kangaroo and half Tasmanian devil. So I guess I've got those two in me."

"Well, now that's a feral I've never heard of," Logan chuckled. "I'm a wolverine. And Victor's a saber-tooth."

"That explains why he smells like a cat," Brandi nodded her head.

Logan could see that the Aussie was cheering up. But when he looked into her storm blue eyes, he could see hurt and anger. If only he knew what she was feeling and thinking right now.

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**Note: Please R&R! Oh, and, in one of the later chapters I'll tell you what language is Brandi's second tongue. **


	3. Rainy Morning

**Note: Yay! Another chapter! Yay, I know, it's kinda going slow.**

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Brandi woke up at six a.m. It was pouring rain outside. She rolled over in her bed from an uncomfortable night's sleep and gazed sleepily around her dim room. The sound of rain soothed her and it reminded her of when she'd be saying good bye to her friends so she could head out to sea.

"Wonder if there's a shower in this place," Brandi pushed the covers off and stretched. She'd slept in just her bra and jeans.

Stryker must have given her some extra clothes and underwear because inside the nightstand there were some. Brandi pulled her white tank top back on and grabbed the extra pair of socks, jeans, underwear, and black tank top that had been provided. She wondered how in the world Stryker knew what size of underwear she wore. It was weird.

When she walked out of her room she could already tell that all the guys were up. Her sensitive nose could smell coffee brewing but strangely no food. Didn't they all have high metabolisms, like her?

Chris must've shared the second floor with her because he was coming out of one of the rooms.

"Hey, got a shower in this place, mate?" Brandi asked as she walked over to him.

"There're actually two showers," Chris smiled and pointed to a door next to his room. "There's the closest one."

"Thanks," Brandi dashed into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

There was a shower, a toilet, and a sink. She could smell what three guys shared this bathroom with her. It was Chris, Zero, and Wade. There was a small rack with four compartments that each had a towel. Under each towel there were the initials for whose towel it was. The top was marked Z.N., the second was C.B., the third was W.W., and the fourth was marked B.W. Brandi guessed the last one was hers, it did have her initials on it. Brandi Wallaby.

She pushed back the shower curtain and twisted the handles until the water temperate was to her liking. After stripping off her clothes she stepped in and let the warm water run over her entire body.

Downstairs, the guys were all talking about what was planned for today. They usually did missions but Stryker wanted them to do nothing today so that Brandi could start to settle in.

"She's actually nice," Logan said as he sipped his coffee.

"I just wish we knew what her power is," Zero was irritable this morning.

"Oh I'm sure it'll show up here soon," Wade added in.

"It's impossible to hide a mutation for long," John said and set his feet on the coffee table.

"And I think I'm gonna go see if Miss Aussie is up yet," Wade stood and started to walk up the stairs.

"She's just getting ready," Chris called as Wade disappeared upstairs.

The guys were quiet as they waited for Wade to come back down, hopefully with Brandi. For a while it was quiet, and then a door opened. There was a low growl, a shout, then Wade said something, then there was a heavy crash.

Logan and Zero took off up the stairs and were surprised the see Wade slouched against the wall where he had landed.

"Man, she's got one hell of a kick," Wade rubbed his head as he stood.

All three men watched as the bathroom door slammed shut. Brandi was grumbling in that foreign language again and it didn't sound real nice.

Oh, was Brandi mad. That stupid Wade had opened the door without knocking and caught her in just underwear and a bra. Luckily she wasn't butt naked but still, he should've knocked first.

"Nosy goanna," Brandi mumbled as she pulled on the new pair of jeans and black tank top. She ran a brush through her mid-back length hair. There had been a brush under her towel and she assumed it was for her.

After gathering up her dirty clothes she walked across the small open room and into her room. There was a pair of tennis shoes and black combat boots. The cowboy boots in the corner were hers. She slipped on a fresh pair of socks and put the tennis shoes on.

Brandi walked down stairs and was greeted by none other than Wade. She stared him straight in the eyes.

"If you ever walk in on me again, mate, I will kill you," Brandi growled. The others may have thought she was kidding, but she was very intent on killing him if he intruded without knocking again.

"So, are you hungry?" John changed the subject.

"Starved," Brandi answered flatly.

"Are you okay with going to the diner just a few miles from here?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, fine," Brandi crossed her arms.

"Well, I'm driving!" Wade grabbed some keys from a rack by the front door.

"No you're not," Zero took the keys from his hand and dashed out to the big black van sitting in the driveway.

Brandi followed silently, slightly amused by the way Wade argued with everybody. He usually said something that offended the other guy and then it turned into a war of witty comebacks. Once outside she dashed for the van, getting soaked as the rain poured down. It was a bit crowded in the van, but all eight of them managed to fit in. Now Brandi only wondered what it'd be like once they got to the diner.

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**Note: It'll pick up once they're in the diner! Hopefully... Remember to R&R! **


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